The Newest Worst Passwords to Avoid in 2016

Another year, another 365 days of bad passwords.

SplashData released its fifth annual “Worst Passwords List” last month to feature the weakest password habits of 2015. Many poor choices returned to their spots on the list – “123456” and “password” have held the top 2 spots since the list began 4 years ago. And, anyways, you don’t use those anymore, right? Kid’s stuff.

However, something stood out for us from this list – all of the new worst passwords, inspired by trending pop culture and common phrases, that were featured. Indeed, there were 9 new bad passwords in the top 25 worst – a full 36% of the whole list – that a lot pf people were using in last year.

Remember: These passwords are likely the first ones that cybercriminals will try on your account to gain access. In fact, experts say that trending news topics and pop culture items are among the top tactics used by hackers when breaking into accounts. So, how does that affect you? Well, if you are taking inspiration from your new favorite Star Wars character to set your bank account password, it’s likely that someone else is too.

Take a few minutes to review this list of the newest “worst passwords” – are you using any of them? If you are, it’s time to get a little more creative.

New worst passwords to avoid in 2016

welcome

1234567890

1qaz2wsx

login

princess

qwertyuiop

solo

passw0rd

starwars

The easy way to avoid the worst passwords?

Avoiding bad passwords is actually pretty easy when you have free a tool like our Username Generator – to help you create strong, unique passwords. If you decide to create your own password, test it with our Password Strength Checker.